Ah, the final stop on the whirlwind weekend in the La Sportiva Mountain Cup, the La Sportiva Eldora Trail 11k. Run in La Sportiva’s North American backyard of Nederland, Colorado, this race is an unsurprising staple in the Mountain Cup. Unlike the three series races held a day early that either went straight up (Squaw Mountain Run and Mt Ashland Hillclimb) or straight up and then straight down (Jupiter Peak Steeplechase), Eldora winds around a nordic trail system for 11k. This year’s race featured cool conditions with overcast skies while the top runners were out on the course.

The RaceMen’s Race
After his course record run at the Barr Trail Mountain Race, it should come as little surprise that Ryan Hafer won again at Eldora. Hafer managed to run a time of 36:36 on this 11k course. After winning the Squaw Mountain Run Ryan Woods headed east and had legs enough to comfortably place second in 38:43. Matt Byrne, another Mountain Cup contender, came from Pennsylvania to run a 39:20, which was good enough for third. Bernie Boettcher pulled a “Bernie” by doubling on back-to-back Mountain Cup races. He drove from Park City’s Jupiter Peak Steeplechase to Eldora to take fourth over and the top masters spot in just under 40 minutes with a 39:59. Eighteen-year-old Paul Peterson took fifth in a time of 40:32.

Women’s Race
Karen Anne Prisby recently moved from Texas to Nederland. It’s safe to say that she’s quickly adapted to her surroundings as she won Eldora by running 45:02. Megan Kimmel, who won the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase a day earlier equaled Woods’ double, by taking second in the women’s race in a time of 45:46. Lisa Goldsmith, also of Nederland, was the top master and third overall woman in 46:17. Lindsay Krause finished fourth exactly one minute behind Goldsmith. Jaime Falcon of Breckenridge rounded out the top 5 in 47:17. Here’s a bit of iRunFar Trivia – Ms. Falcon was my first pacer at the 2009 Leadville 100. (My Leadville 100 ’09 report)

La Sportiva Mountain Cup Standings
Below are the overall LSMC standings through nine races per our reckoning. This time around we’ll note the top two masters positions, as well.

Women
This weekend Megan Kimmell all but guaranteed that she’ll repeat as this year’s La Sportiva Mountain Cup women’s champ. She pulled off the only women’s double this past weekend to close out here series with five races. Her win and runner up finished gave her 39 additional points for a total of 93 points. Alison Bryant picked up 13 points at the Squaw Mountain Run to stay in second position; however, with only 59 total points she would need to win the final Mountain Cup race and beat seven other top 10 women in the series in that race to tie Kimmell. That’s not going to happen.

Rachel Cieslewicz moved into third overall with 52 points after her second place at Jupiter Peak. Laura Haefeli dropped from third to fourth by not racing. On the other hand, Lisa Marie Goldsmith jumped from a tie for twelfth to fifth based on her third place finish at Eldora.

Here are iRunFar’s Unofficial Standings:

Megan Kimmell – 93 pts in 5 races

Alison Bryant – 59 pts in 4 races

Rachel Cieslewicz – 52 pts in 4 races

Laura Haefeli – 45 pts in 2 races

Lisa Marie Goldsmith – 30 pts in 2 races

Women Masters
The top two women masters runners – Laura Haefeli and Lisa Marie Goldsmith – are already in the top five overall. If either of them manage to move into second, that would open up an additional cash prize slot for a masters runner. As it stands, any masters woman who places in the top three at the series finale, the Taos Up and Over, would have a good shot at winning at least $500. (See the prize list) That’s especially the case for any masters woman who already has some points. As the two top ladies, if Lisa Marie runs well at Taos and Laura doesn’t show up, she could very well be the masters champ.

Men
With one race to go, there’s a new leader and likely champion in the men’s Mountain Cup standings – Ryan Woods. He picked up 43 points this weekend by winning the Squaw Mountain Run and then placing second at Eldora. His 106 points through five races puts him 10 points ahead of Matt Byrne, who has also run five races. Byrne picked up 17 points at Eldora and, since he already has the maximum of five scoring races, he would need massive 27 points at the final race to tie Woods. Jason Bryant picked up 13 points at Squaw Mountain, which keeps him on the podium with 75 points. Bryant has also maxed out with five race.

Bernie Boettcher’s double moved him into fourth with 62 points. Boettcher still has a full scoring race left, so he still has a decent shot at catching Bryant. However, Boettcher has a strong lead in the master’s division that would yield a larger prize than placing third overall, so there’s little incentive for him to race in two weeks. That said, Bernie loves to race! Rounding out the top five is Ryan Hafer with 50 points. It’s amazing that he’s reached that ranking despite having only run two Mountain Cup races! We’d say that there’s too large gap for him to move into third overall with only one race left, but he’s averaging 25 points per race, which, if repeated, would move him into a tie for third. If he were to win at Taos while beating three other men in the top 10, he’d move into third and claim $1,500. That said, it’s unlikely that three other top 10 men will run the race given the solidity of the series rankings at this point.

Here are our unofficial series tallies:

Ryan Woods – 106 pts in 5 races

Matt Byrne – 96 pts in 5 races

Jason Bryant – 75 pts in 5 races

Bernie Boettcher – 62 pts in 4 races

Ryan Hafer – 50 pts in 2 races

Men’s Masters
Bernie Boettcher has a commanding lead in the men’s masters division with 62 points. As there’s little chance of him moving into the top two overall spots, he’s guaranteed the master’s winner rather than bumping up into the open division. We think Matt Carpenter is in second with 19 points. That means that any master’s runner who were to show up and win the Taos Up and Over outright (or score 20 or more points due to bonus points) would walk away with $1,000! Get up and get out there guys!

iRunFar.com La Sportiva Mountain Cup ContestThe La Sportiva Fireblades were my first Sportiva… so I’ll cap a great La Sportiva Mountain Cup weekend by giving away a pair. They may a great training shoe in addition to being a great racing shoe. Read iRunFar’s Fireblade review for more details.